leave them; and I entreated them rather to give up their seats in the
Assembly, than on that account to bring misery on their country; for that
with patience their cause would ultimately triumph. They replied, that I
had prescribed to them a most difficult task. They were afraid that neither
the conduct of the White Colonists nor of the National Assembly could be
much longer borne. They thanked me, however, for my advice. One of them
gave me a trinket, by which I might remember him; and as for himself, he
said, he should never forget one, who had taken such a deep interest in
the welfare of his mother[A]. I found, however, notwithstanding all I
said, that there was a spirit of dissatisfaction in them, which nothing
but a redress of their grievances could subdue; and that, if the planters
should persevere in their intrigues, and the National Assembly in delay,
a fire would be lighted up in St. Domingo, which could not easily be
extinguished. This was afterward realized: for Ogé, in about three months
from this time, left his companions to report to his constituents in St.
Domingo the state of their mission; when hearing, on his arrival in that
island, of the outrageous conduct of the Whites of the committee of Aquin,
who had begun a persecution of the People of Colour for no other reason
than that they had dared to seek the common privileges of citizens; and
of the murder of Ferrand and Labadie, he imprudently armed his slaves.
With a small but faithful band he rushed upon superior numbers; and was
defeated. Taking refuge at length in the Spanish part of St. Domingo,
he was given up; and his enemies, to strike terror into the People of
Colour, broke him upon the wheel. From this time reconciliation between
the parties became impossible. A bloody war commenced, and with it all
those horrors which it has been our lot so frequently to deplore. It must
be remembered, however, that the Slave-trade, by means of the cruel
distinctions it occasioned, was the original cause; and though the
revolution of France afforded the occasion; it was an occasion which
would have been prevented, if it had not been for the intrigues and